Tuesday In D.C.: Microsoft, Google, Yahoo

Mark your calendars for a day full of sound and fury, signifying nothing: Reps from Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) travel to Washington to make their respective cases: As everyone has noted, the irony is that this time, the Microsoft guys aren't the ones under antitrust scrutiny.

But while this might (might!) be interesting TV, we get the feeling it's going to be more Kabuki than anything else: The only way this pact is relevant is if Yahoo keeps its existing management, or if it isn't eventually sold off/broken up. And while we'd like to see Yahoo kept alive as a standalone company, and returned to its previous glory, we're sadly skeptical that we're going to see that happen.